Welcome to Schmatta’s coverage of Salone del Mobile, Milan’s annual design festival. This is part one of…at least three…I think. (So much to say!) In today’s newsletter, you’ll find out how, exactly, I was “invited” to Milan and which celeb got off my flight and didn’t have to go through passport control.
One thing you must know about Salone del Mobile is that the FOMO doesn’t stop—even when you’re in Milan. No matter how well you think you’ve plotted your course, Instagram will keep telling you that you’re missing out on this or that. By day 2, it was clear there were certain places the designerati had decided were the best. But I was already oversubscribed.
The other thing that happens during Salone is that the invites don’t stop flooding your inbox during the week, making it even harder to figure out where you should be. “Should,” of course, having many meanings.
This was my first time attending Salone. For those who have no idea what I’m talking about: Salone del Mobile is Milan’s annual design festival. Out of all the design festivals and trade shows both domestically and internationally, this one is regarded as the most important and the most elite. It is the fashion week of design, where one expects to see collections and installations that will set the tone for the rest of the year.
An important thing to know about Salone is that it is both a trade show and a design festival. The trade show aka the actual fair happens at an exposition hall about 45 minutes outside of the city—and almost no one goes. At least, among the media and designer crowds. Otherwise, “Salone” at large takes place throughout Milan, in various stores, palazzos, and other locations.
And here’s where my “outsider” experience starts, as I won’t be weird and cryptic about how this all happens. Schmatta is about viewing the design world from the outside, and being honest about its functions.
Technically, anyone can attend as Salone opens to the public mid-week, and you can access the trade show with a ticket (priced from 38€ to 53€). But to properly “do” Salone, you need to be known to the PR companies that rep designers and furniture manufacturers to secure access to private parties and previews.
And, somehow, I am finally one of those people—well, one who is at least marginally “known.” I have been watching Salone for years from a screen, melting with envy at the celeb designers to waltz into T magazine’s annual party (I didn’t get an invite to that one) or fellow writers taking snaps of avant-garde aluminum furniture. But finally, my moment came.
You don’t need to “get invited” to experience Salone as an insider—if you can get on the PR lists, you can pay your own airfare and hotel. But for a writer like myself who doesn’t have the budget to self-fund, an invitation is everything.
Mine came in February, when an email popped up in my inbox with the subject “H&M Home Collab Press Trip - Milan Design Week.” Reps from H&M were reaching out to me—me! Little Leo!—to join a press trip to cover the Kelly Wearstler H&M Home collab, which was launching during Salone. Would I want to join and cover the collection and event on my Substack?
Gentle reader, it took me no longer than .2 seconds to reply and say YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES!
I will have you know that if an invite came in from a brand I didn’t know or something I wasn’t as enthused about, I would have weighed the option more carefully. And potentially said no if the demands were icky. All H&M was asking was for an inclusion, and honestly, I would have found KW x H&M to be Schmatta-worthy, regardless. Had I not gone to Salone, this collab would 100 percent be included in one of my Good Schmutz roundups.
So, I formally accepted (after, of course, making sure my brilliant and supportive husband would be okay solo-parenting for nearly a week).
I would find out that the group on this trip would be a wonderful lineup of newsletter authors and writers including my pal Sydney Gore of Nobody’s Home, Kerry Pieri of Why Not, Ann Binlot of the mag Family Style, and Chrissy Rutherford of FWD JOY.
H&M treated us like royalty. I was flown on Delta’s Premium Select (business class, basically) and was put up in a 4-star boutique hotel (it was lovely but hilarious; more on it in another post). The PRs blessed us with H&M gift cards, Uber vouchers, and paid for so many meals.
In our next installment, I’ll tell you about my first two days in Milan. But before we end, I’ll leave you with this…
While deplaning in Milan, I spied a very well known Former American Retail Creative, now known for TV appearances and her curated downtown lifestyle. While the rest of us lined up at immigration passport kiosks, groggy from a flight that landed at 6:45 am, said Former American Retail Creative was escorted past it all.
I hope to be that important one day.
Stay tuned for more!